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Thursday, November 15, 2018

PIERCE PETTIS Announces First New Album In Nearly A Decade

Songwriter
Pierce Pettis Announces First New Album In Nearly A DecadeFATHER'S SON Set To Release
January 18, 2019 On Compass Records

"Unlike
a lot of his contemporaries, singer-songwriter Pierce Pettis
doesn't belong to the 'me generation.' He's more likely to
sing of his surroundings than himself, and frequently draws on his
Southern background for inspiration and color." Washington
Post

A
witty, heartfelt lyricist, Pettis has a voice that carries the
acoustic folk tradition, but is refreshingly hard to
pigeon-hole." Charlotte Observer

“Pierce
Pettis has created a musical body of work that is wide and deep.
Dip your toe in anywhere and you will want to hear more of my
friend Pierce Pettis!" — John Gorka

“I have loved
Pierce’s music for many years now - he has the gift of a true inner
compass.” — Eliza Gilkyson

November 15, 2018, Nashville, TN -- A
songwriter’s songwriter, Pierce Pettis is
back with his first new studio album in nearly a decade with FATHER’S SON, out
January 18 on Compass Records. You can listen to the opening track,
"Wouldn't Change It For the World,"
HERE. Featuring 10 tracks, including a
cover of Jesse Winchester’s “A Showman’s Life,” the Alabama
songwriter writes about friends he’s lost, childhood memories, and
the relationships he’s experienced both as a son and a father on
these deeply moving, literate songs. FATHER’S SON,
reuniting Pettis with producer Garry West, was
recorded “live on the floor, with the band, with minimal overdubs,
to capture the energy and authenticity of Pierce's performances.”

"I
began my alleged career at Muscle Shoals Sound in the late
70s," Pettis deadpans."I was signed as a writer and had
an artist development deal." From there, he was a part of the
“Fast Folk” movement in New York that featured such fellow artists
as Shawn Colvin, John Gorka and Suzanne Vega, going on to record three
albums for Windham Hill. He spent several years as a staff writer
for Polygram Records before signing to Compass Records.

Pettis and West combed through some 40
songs, old and new, to come up with the songs on FATHER’S SON. The album opens with the upbeat “Wouldn’t
Change It For the World,” where he embraces where he finds himself
at this time in his life – “sometimes you’re blessed, Sometimes
you’re burned, But that’s OK, I woudn’t change it for the world.”
Pettis’ daughter Grace
Pettis contributes backing
vocals on the refrain.

Along with the title track, “Your Father’s
Son,” a song about never forgetting where you came from, Pettis
reaches back into his childhood memories to tell the story of one
kindly Mr. Ziedman, the “one and only Jew” in his little town, who
always wore long sleeves to “keep an ugly thing from view.” The
song is enhanced by Andrea Zonn’s poignantly beautifully string
arrangement, as Pettis ends the song by lighting a candle for “our
one and only Jew.”

”More” is a song about the great mystery –
he likens death to “just a seed that had to fall” – and concludes
that “there is more than we can guess … forever
more." And, as always, he includes a song by his late friend,
musician/producer Mark
Heard, whose sudden
death in 1993 left its mark on Pettis. “The song I chose this time,
'Look Over Your Shoulder,' has a special meaning for me as it was
the last song Mark ever performed," Pettis says. "I know
this because Kate Miner and I were with him at a festival in
Illinois and on stage with him at the time.”

Pettis was joined in the studio by a cast
of old friends and veterans from his previous albums: Reece Wynans, widely known for his work with Stevie
Ray Vaughan and Joe Bonamassa, contributed piano and Hammond
B-3 tracks. Longtime collaborator Stuart Duncan contributes his multiple Grammy-winning fiddle
skills along with some beautiful mandolin parts. Also back is
violinist Andrea
Zonn (James Taylor Band),who contributed the string arrangement
for “Mr. Ziedman.”

"Adding backing vocals for the second
time is my daughter, Grace, who last recorded with me on EVERYTHING MATTERS when she was 9 years old! “ Pettis says. And
of course, my long-time producer and friend, Garry West, joins us
on bass and produced for the fourth time.”

Some newcomers to Pierce's world are
guitarist Doug
Lancio, known for his work
with John Hiatt and Patty Griffin, drummer/percussionists Josh Day (Sara Bareilles, John Oates) and Jordan Perlson (Adrian Belew, Alison Brown, Blue Man Group), and
vocalist Ruth
Moody from renowned vocal
trio, the Wailin’ Jennys.

At this point in his life, as a career
touring artist and father of four, Pettis has reached a period of
reflection and peace with his life as well as a comfort zone as an
artist. “The biggest change,” he says, “has been getting
over myself and realizing this is a job and a craft. And the
purpose is not fame and fortune but simply doing good work."

TRACK LISTING
1. Wouldn’t Change It for the World
2. Very Same Moon
3. A Showman’s Life
4. Don’t Know Where I Am
5. The Adventures of Me (and this Old Guitar)
6. Your Father’s Son
7. Mr. Zeidman
8. More
9. Look Over Your shoulder
10. Instrument

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